Backpacking

[Nolena]

I am looking for a good wildlife repellent product for my backpack.
I'm going into the Grand Canyon this spring, and I've had problems with squirrels & deer chewing through backpacks. Not good for the animals; not good for the pack.
And there was no food or toothpaste or anything in the pack. It was all in animal-proof containers.

[RobertW]

I've never found anything that works.  Even the field mice will come out in below zero weather to check out my backpack in the middle of the night.

I always leave all my pockets and flaps left wide open so they don't have to chew through the pack, but can nose around in it all they want.  Like you, all my food and snacks go in a bear proof container.

[Nolena]

Well, sheet!! 
Maybe if I stay up all night guarding the pack... 

[ForestGal]

I've never found anything that works.  Even the field mice will come out in below zero weather to check out my backpack in the middle of the night.

I always leave all my pockets and flaps left wide open so they don't have to chew through the pack, but can nose around in it all they want.  Like you, all my food and snacks go in a bear proof container.

Considering all the diseases that rodents can carry - EEEEEEEWWWW!!     Then, what if you picked the pack up to put it on, and a mouse crawled out?  EEEEEEK!   

I'm not a backpacker though, a nice day hike, a nice warm shower, and a nice warm bed, are just fine for me. 

[mtntrekker]

Ditto what Robert said.  Leave pockets, zippers, and flaps open and store all food away from the pack, preferably in a bear canister.  I've never had a problem and have stayed in critter infested areas several times. 

[RobertW]

You also want to remember to remove from your backpack  and store anything else that smells or has a scent, even if it isn't food.  Store your gum, lotion, sunscreen, toothpaste, etc., away from your pack, along with your food in the cansiter.

[ForestGal]

I never thought about scented stuff, I have lotion, sunscreen, etc., that lives in my backpack, which is just for day hikes.  I'm guessing it isn't much of a problem for this purpose.  My only real "problem" critters have been a couple of rattlesnakes, which freaked me out, but we just got out of their way.  Can you tell I'm basically a big chicken?   

[Nolena]

I imagine it's the smell of those things that were carried in the backpack that attracts them.
The Phantom Ranch area is particularly bad. Deer chew through plastic bags and then die from the blockage this causes. There and the rest stops along the Bright Angel Trail are horrible for ground squirrels. Too much human traffic. It's hard to even put your backpack down to get a drink of water.
The north side is fine, probably because of much less human traffic.
I am going to try some animal repellent, even if it does make my pack smell like predator urine. (Of course, I may have to camp seperately from my group.  )
Actually, the smell is detectable to animals but not so much to humans.

[campstertim]

Hang your pack from a tree, just as you would a food bag.  That's what I do, or used to do, when I had the time/health to backpack.

[SkierBob]

Hang your pack from a tree, just as you would a food bag.  That's what I do, or used to do, when I had the time/health to backpack.

Given enough time any Bear experienced at eating backpackers food will eventually figure out how to get your food cache out of the tree.  On long trips where we couldn't afford to loose our food to the bears, not only would we tie up our food, we would also sleep under the tree.   If we were lucky enough to be wake up before the bear went up the tree we'd chase them off.  If they got up the tree we'd throw sticks and stones to discourage the bears effort. 

If the bear actually managed to get the food to fall to the ground we'd grab the food before the bear made it back down the tree.  however there was this one time the bear actually pulled the food cache up to him.  We panicked and started throwing everything we could find at the bear in the tree.  The food cache fell to the ground, I grabbed the food as the bear was running down the tree head first.  I retreated to the fire as the bear followed me.  My buddy took some white gas threw it on the fire and the bear backed off. 

At this point we were completely out of wood and each time the fire burned down the bear would come into camp and attempt to strong arm the food from us.  We ended up tying the food about 10ft off the ground which gave us the ability to defend the food and keep the bear at bay until the sun rose and the bear gave up.

This was the first night out on a 16 day trip and we were not about to let some bear ruin our trip.   

[ForestGal]

A perfect example of why I like day hikes...

[SkierBob]

A perfect example of why I like day hikes...

A perfect example of why I like day hikes...

We had hiked over Kearsarge Pass  and  camped near Vidette Meadow when we had the bear experience above.  The Vidette Meadow area is a high traffic area for backpackers so the local bears are very experienced at filling their bellys with backpacker food. 

I've also done a lot of hiking in Alaska which is an entirely different experience. The bears up North don't see your backpack as food. They see you as food, even on day hikes;)

I'm much more concerned with Mountian Lions then bears when hiking anywhere in California. Especially when hiking alone.   

[Nolena]

Always hike with an enemy, let them carry your tuna sandwich, and say "Here, kitty, kitty."

[love_walnuts]

Always hike with an enemy, let them carry your tuna sandwich, and say "Here, kitty, kitty."

And always make sure it is someone who you run faster than.

[Nolena]

Or slip some rocks into their pack.

[SkierBob]

Or slip some rocks into their pack.

If we had someone in our group who was always walking faster then the rest of us,, we would take something out of our pack and put it in theirs when they were not looking.  When all else failed we'd put rocks in their pack.  This always lead to problems at some point down the trail. 

If you were unlucky enough to forget to bring T.P. you could negotiate with someone else in the group by offering to carry some of there weight for one piece of T.P.  two pieces if we were feeling kind,, but we were rarely that nice.

My brother-in-law is famous for pulling out a 12 pack of beer 14 days in on the trail,  at which point we'd all offer to carry his entire pack for a few beers.    Good times